4-1-1 Music News Minute(s) w/Todd Michaels – Week of February 12th

It’s been a few years since we’ve heard anything from the Smashing Pumpkins as a group, but it looks like the act might be gearing up to release something new. The band’s website was recently updated to reveal a new countdown clock set to expire this week. Last month, frontman Billy Corganhinted that the band might be recording withRick Rubin, but there still seems to be some tension between the original lineup. Earlier this week, Corganseemed to deny rumors that the band had chosen a new bassist.

The Nationalhave really and truly written a musical of Cyrano de Bergerac, which will be premiered at Goodspeed Musicals’ series in Connecticut this summer. Cyrano de Bergerac is a late-19th-century tragic play about a soldier, expert swordsman, and Orphic musician-poet with a huge nose. The production is set to run August 3 through September 2.

L7 have dropped “I Came Back to Bitch,” a fiery, cowbell-assisted takedown of capitalists and fake rockstars. The grunge icons made a triumphant return last year with the topical “Dispatch From Mar-a-Lago,” their first new music in 18 years. The band is set to take the stage with their new work this April, with a six show U.S. tour.

Thom Yorke will be integrated into a new 360-degree audiovisual installation at Berlin’s Martin-Gropius-Bau exhibition hall. The “immersive” installation is titled the ISM Hexadome, and is also set to include contributions from Brian Eno and more. The Radiohead singer is set to feature into the proceedings beginning on April 6 as a part of an installation by his friend Tarik Barri, who has contributed visuals to Atoms For Peace performances and worked with Yorke on other multimedia projects.

Robert Smith, lead singer and sole constant member of the Cure, will curate the 2018 Meltdown Festival lineup. Now in its 25th year, Meltdown selects different artists each year to curate the festival lineup — previous curators include Patti Smith,David Byrne,David Bowie, and Morrissey. Last year, the lineup was chosen by M.I.A. The festival will be held at the Southbank Centre from June 15 to June 24.

Halseyis an icon in the music realm, and it looks like she’s taking over the beauty world, too. The artist announced her collaboration with Yves Saint Laurent Beauté.